Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations: Vampire Knights?

(Wanted to call the OVA just 'Tokyo Revelations' but that's apparently something different altogether)

When I think about it, I feel that I must've been really really bored once to have watched 2 whole seasons of Tsubasa Chronicles despite telling myself all the way that the series is utter trite since most of the stories when were generic, poorly executed and hardly showcased the creative flair I somehow associated with CLAMP. Okay, so I was curious to see CLAMP's characters put into new settings and variables, (So I watched the first season to the end waiting for X's Seishirou to appear, which he thankfully did though in much less twisted badass form than I liked) but even then, was it worth watching two seasons full of feather-hunting filler? (And they left out CCS's Yamazaki from the Piffle arc! The guy's hilarious, how could they not include him when he was clearly in the manga?!)

Still, I'm pretty glad I decided to watch this Tokyo Revelations OVA after all despite feeling that I've lost too much of my life with the first two series. Of course, you can trust Production I.G. to do a marvelous job at producing something (with production values like theirs, the most you can say for not liking their work is that "It's not for me" as opposed to "That was crap". Wish the same could be said for BEE TRAIN). It's definitely much grittier since it handles the not suitable for kids (Oooo, blood....) portion of the source product which BEE TRAIN wouldn't touch, and it advances the plot considerably much in a short span of time that it almost made up for the absolute lack of credible development in the second season. Well, almost. It almost seems that too much happens in too short a span of time for the viewer to properly grasp the situation. Then again, this is CLAMP, known for their elaborate setups and twists and yes, sudden revelations (were they really only involved in the character designs for Code Geass?). Then again, I'm rather slow :P

So at the end of it, the things I gathered were along the lines of:

Well at least now that I know what Miyano Mamoru (playing Kamui. Subaru's voiced by that Shimono Hiro - ef's Hirono, OoFuri's Tajima- not that I could actually tell without looking it up) sounds like as a bishie vampire, maybe I don't have to force myself to watch Vampire Knight next season anymore :P (I still will for Horie Yui though *sigh* VK was one show I had zero intention of touching until I saw the cast list. Suddenly it's on my MUST CHECK OUT (for at least one episode) list -_-")

Seriously I didn't expect them to pair up Kamui and Subaru as twins (much less vampiric ones... I think I prefer Hansel & Gretel, thank you) considering Subaru already has one and they're sort of using the Tokyo Babylon Subaru design instead of the X Subaru. What happened to Hokuto? Kamui's too emo to costume-rape Subaru into a Michael Jackson cosplay! At least they brought back the rest of the X TV crowd as well, though they average half a speaking line each by the end (and who's that extra shouta they slotted in?)

Nadie Sakura with a gun? I thought BEE TRAIN wasn't handling this one anymore? (Let's ignore the fact that she actually held one in the pathetic bus arc in the previous season) Anyways, it was a little irked that she had to go back into sleeping beauty mode for the first two episodes, and if it wasn't for what she did in the third, I'd think they only rehired Makino Yui just to do the OP. Synchronicity's one of her better songs though, it captures the desperation of the character quite well - the desperation that she had to actually do something in the OVA which she does in the end despite there so many of CLAMP's other characters more capable of conducting a solo mission in the vicinity -_-" And speaking of Sakura...

Cardcaptor Sakura? In my Tsubasa??? HOOEEEEEE??!!

What else? Mokona's still annoying as ever, Kurogane's still pissy as ever, Fai isn't looking all too good by the end, Shaoran... well let's just say he's not exactly like himself anymore. And though Yuuko explains that every little detail that's brought the group together had been conveniently arranged by Fei Wang Reed in lieau with his grand master plan (I'd be rather skeptical had I not spoiled myself by reading manga spoilers), it still seems rather farfetched in the sense that there seems to be no reason to choose these specific 4 for any particular reason at all to execute his plan (Why couldn't he choose someone more twisted and badass like Seishirou??? :P), it's not like they have any particular strengths that make them the perfect feather hunting machines (except in the case of 'Shaoran 2.0') and seems more trouble than it's worth. Perhaps there's a better explanation in the manga *shrugs* but the explanation that Yuuko gave just seemed to loosely tie loose ends for the sake of giving that semblance of destiny and inevitability that's always brought up by CLAMP.

But who cares about those details? Considering this is actually part of the so far sadly sub-par Tsubasa story(speaking of the anime here), this OVA is pretty good. It's much a slicker production, the music still retains the quality which the first two seasons probably didn't deserve, things actually happen that matter to the plot, and it didn't feel like a complete waste of time! It's a good redeemer for those who had or still have any interest in this series and have been scarred by the poor television series. Now if we could only get Production I.G. to continue doing the future non-filler arcs in the story...

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Happy Leap Year-Day... err... 29th of February?

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Heck, it's a day that comes only once every four years, it deserves to be celebrated, no? And it gives me an excuse to do one of these image heavy posts than having to wrack my brains out typing out a serious one At any rate, if celebrating this 29th of February for the sake of celebrating it isn't your thing, then you can join me in commemorating the rare birthdays of one rose bride and one CLAMP bishounen.


So here's wishing a once in four years Happy Birthday to Himemiya Anthy, the Rose Bride from that wonderfully enigmatic yet strangely absorbing series which was Revolutionary Girl Utena. It's a series with an interesting mix of unconventional imagery and original story-telling which makes it an instant classic, and one of the biggest mysteries surrounding the show is the that of the Rose Bride Anthy - what sinister secrets does her complacent doormat-ish veneer really hide...?

Those who have watched the series should remember the somewhat artificial innocence which surrounds Anthy's persona, whereas those who've seen her in the Adolescence Apocalypse movie (which is a compelte retelling of the series, mind you) will see her as more feisty flirty creature... But to those who aren't familiar with either, Anthy is still famed for being a classic Yuri icon in anime together with the 'princely' Utena, if you're at all into that sort of thing ^^


Anthy and ChuuChuu at the end of the series. I have to say that the ending of Utena felt very inconclusive yet extremely satisfactory at the same time. *Spoiler: Watching Himemiya finally breaking free from her brother's shackles and walking out of the school to search for Utena (wherever she may be) while Rose & Release played in the background (which is basically Masami Okui ~La la la~ing to the OP song - a must listen) turned out to be one of the most strangely satisfying and fitting endings to an anime I've ever had the chance to watch. *

Indeed, Himemiya Anthy is not-so-innocent as she first seems... The biggest mystery that comes to mind when I see her though is how she manages all that hair whenever she appears in public!

Also celebrating his hard to come by birthday is Kinomoto Touya from Cardcaptor Sakura. おたんじょうび　おめでとう! Touya's claim to fame as Sakura's teasing brother comes from being part job-hopping sister-stalking siscon, and part sister's-crush-stealing BL icon. (Hmm, this post is turning out to be more yuri/yaoi-centric than I expected) And of course, how can I not mention that he's voiced by awesome Seki Tomokazu ^^?

Touya is the typical older sibling who enjoys tormenting his younger sister (being an older sibling myself, I'll just say it's one of those unwritten rules of family life =P) while 'secretly' looking out for her in the not-very-rare case that the Cardcaptor gets into a pinch. This he does while working at his 101 (and perhaps more) part-time jobs :S Talk about industriousness. Sakura of course, being the oblivious little moe magical girl that she is never really notices this (and many other things throughout the course of the series) as she's too busy capturing stray Clow cards while hiding the magical aspect of her life from her onii-chan.

There's snow! And bunnies! How could I resist??? ^^

Those who've watched Cardcaptor Sakura can fully attest to the legitimacy of the Touya X Yukito pairing which for once is not just the product of collective fangirls' imagination, unless you're willing to turn a big blind eye towards the proceedings in the later episodes. Spoiler: Yukito openly turns down poor Sakura for her brother, lol. No surprise really, CCS being a CLAMP work after all, slash inevitably works its way in like it or not =P

Well, to these two classic characters, here's wishing you a Happy Leap Year-Day Birthday from Tondemo Nothing!

(And if anyone gives a hoot about me using images I obviously wantonly took from the net, feel free to voice yourself and I will most graciously remove the offending image and replace it with some other image I borrowed from some other source which I've failed to credit)

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